Products Motion pictures Founded 1984 Fate Bankruptcy | Defunct 1989 | |
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Films produced | ||
De laurentiis entertainment group sunbow marvel productions 1986
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) was an entertainment production company and distribution unit founded by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives (the sequel to De Laurentiis' remake of King Kong), and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as distributing Transformers: The Movie.
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The company's main studios were located in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is now EUE/Screen Gems Studios. The studio's first releases were in 1986. It went bankrupt two years later after Million Dollar Mystery, among other films, failed at the box office.
History
In 1983, Dino De Laurentiis produced Firestarter in Wilmington. The governor of North Carolina, James Hunt, claimed that the filming increased economic activity in the state. Hunt used incentives and loans to allow De Laurentiis to buy a local warehouse to convert into a studio. In early 1984, De Laurentiis founded the North Carolina Film Corporation, with Martha Schumacher as president.
In 1985, DEG acquired Embassy Pictures from The Coca-Cola Company.
Films released
Canadian distribution of DEG releases were done by Paramount Pictures.
DEG had an early version of Total Recall in pre-production with Patrick Swayze as Quaid and Bruce Beresford to direct (David Cronenberg had also been approached), where it was to have been shot in Australia. After DEG's bankruptcy, the film went in turnaround to Carolco Pictures.
Along with the Embassy Pictures library, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group's library has since then gone to StudioCanal.